Promises of easier nuclear construction fall short

WAYNESBORO, Georgia--The U.S. nuclear industry has started building its first new plants in decades using prefabricated Lego-like blocks meant to save time and money and revive the once promising energy source.

So far, it's not working.

Quality and cost problems have cropped up again, raising questions about whether nuclear power will ever be able to compete with other electricity sources. The first two reactors built after a 16-year lull, Southern Co.'s Vogtle plant in Georgia and SCANA Corp.'s VC Summer plant in South Carolina, are being assembled in large modules. Large chunks of the modules are built off-site, in an effort to improve quality and avoid the chronic cost overruns that all but killed the nuclear industry when the first wave of plants was being built in the 1960s and 1970s.

Analysts say engineers created designs that were hard or impossible to make, according to interviews and regulatory filings reviewed by The Associated Press. The factory in Louisiana that constructed the prefabricated sections struggled to meet strict quality rules. Utility companies got early warnings but proved unable to avoid the problems. Now the firms leading the project are phasing out the Louisiana factory for work on the biggest modules and contracting with new manufacturers.

Few power companies are building brand-new nuclear plants right now in the U.S. because gas-fired plants are so cheap by comparison. But if construction costs can be controlled, the nuclear industry might have a long-term chance. Future gas prices are always uncertain, and stricter U.S. pollution rules could make nuclear plants more attractive since they produce no greenhouse gasses. The difficulties producing modules are one factor that caused schedules to slide. The first of the two new reactors at each site in Georgia and South Carolina were supposed to be operating in 2016, but that timetable has now been pushed into 2017 or early 2018. In Georgia, Southern Co. expects to spend US$646 million more than the originally budgeted US$6.1 billion on its share of the project.

Joseph "Buzz" Miller, a Southern Co. executive tasked with building the nuclear plant in Georgia, thinks building in modules can still work, despite the recent trouble. "Has it for the first units resulted in a lot of time savings? No," he said. "But does it have promise? Yes."

Years ago, large workforces built nuclear power plants part by part. Using so much labor was expensive and difficult to manage. It increased the odds a work crew might make a mistake or fall behind schedule.

This time, the industry settled on a different technique. The utilities in Georgia and South Carolina purchased power plants that use the AP1000 reactor designed by Westinghouse Electric Co. Its modules can weigh hundreds of tons and dwarf buildings.

The Shaw Modular Solutions factory in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was to produce large, prefabricated chunks of the plants.